Given his pivotal role in the history of opera, it is curious
how little we hear of Gluck's music in UK opera houses. The
reason may be the imbalance in the popularity of his individual
works: Orfeo and Alceste have been done to death
- although I've never had the chance to see either - while the
rest of the composer's voluminous output remains effectively
unknown.

On the strength of this selection of arias, there is much in
Gluck's lesser-known works that deserves to see the light of
day. Extracting the numbers from the operas themselves has the
fortunate result of liberating the music from the classical
subjects of Gluck's operas, eliminating the first of the possible
turn-offs. Another potential turn-off is the prospect of amateur
performance. With the exception of a few high notes in the soprano
lines, and perhaps some balance issues between soloist and woodwind
obbligato, there are few technical challenges. But this highly
proficient and highly professional performance demonstrates
just how much is lost if these works are consigned to amateurs.

The three singers, Sophie Bevan, Ailish Tynan and Anna Stéphany,
each bring a distinctive tone to the proceedings. Bevan has
a clear, well defined sound, with a narrow and impeccably controlled
vibrato. Tynan's voice is richer, warm and sophisticated with
some elegant colours in the lower register. But for my money,
Anna Stéphany is the star of the line-up. There is a real immediacy
about her singing, and a level of drama that seems wholly unaffected
by the concert setting or the ‘bleeding chunks’ programme. She
too has a narrow vibrato, which gives her voice the required
penetration when her mezzo line runs below the violins. You
wouldn't mistake her for a man, but there is a manliness to
her tone, which helps make the trouser roles more credible.
And in the guise of Orfeo, her impassioned 'Che faro senza Euridice?'
is the highlight of the programme.

The orchestra of the Classical Opera Company is the Orchestra
of the Age of Enlightenment in all but name. No surprise, then,
that they are able to combine sensitivity to historical performance
issues with real immediacy and expression. There is nothing
dry or academic about this historically informed performance,
and the Enlightenment values of beauty of tone and clarity of
line are evident throughout. To my ear, the major benefit of
period instruments in the late 18th century repertoire
is the distinctiveness of the woodwind timbres. Anthony Robson
demonstrates here just how much the classical oboe can bring
to Gluck. The way he matches the timbre and emotion, not to
mention phrase shaping, of the singers in his obbligato lines
is wonderful. He ensures that the singers are never overpowered
or upstaged.

The choice of three female singers may seem like overkill, but
the distinctiveness of each of the voices, and the variety of
the material (which apart from anything else combines Italian
and French) means that monotony is never a concern. I like the
way that the programme has been devised not to imitate an operatic
context. By presenting soprano and mezzo arias, it is as if
Ian Page is focusing on one aspect of Gluck's art, a survey
of his writing for a particular voice-type. Gluck's writing
certainly has the variety to stand such an approach.

As with all the Wigmore Hall Live releases to date, the sound
here is excellent. On previous recordings, I have had the impression
that the sound has been engineered to include the hall's famously
bright acoustic, as if it were an issue of corporate identity.
Not here though; the sound is bright, but the recording does
not emphasise the resonance.

All in all, this is a tantalising taster of Gluck's art. In
fairness, I could imagine productions of these operas getting
bogged down in the classical conventions of their plots and
subjects. But as concert material these arias, recitatives and
ensembles have much to offer, and are performed with enough
dramatic insight that the absence of staging or narrative context
is never felt. The Wigmore Live label has yet again achieved
its aim: it has produced a document of a performance to make
you wish you'd been there. Gavin Dixon

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